2010 Pinot Noir

Production Notes

The Tablas Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010 is Tablas Creek's fourth varietal bottling of this renowned grape, famous for the wines it makes in Burgundy and many regions around the New World.

After importing our Châteauneuf du Pape clones, we brought in selections of a few other high quality (non-Rhone) clones as part of an effort to expand our nursery business, including Pinot Noir. Although we eventually decided that our nursery should remain focused solely on the Rhone grape varieties we grow, we planted two rows of Pinot Noir in a cool, east-facing section of our 120-acre certified organic estate vineyard. In addition to harvesting a small production each year, we also used these rows to produce the vine material for the small vineyard around founder Robert Haas's house in Templeton.

The 2010 vintage saw healthy rainfall after three years of drought. The ample early-season groundwater and a lack of spring frosts produced a good fruit set. A very cool summer delayed ripening by roughly three weeks, with harvest not beginning until mid-September and still less than half complete in mid-October. Warm, sunny weather between mid-October and mid-November allowed the later-ripening varieties to reach full maturity. The long hangtime and cool temperatures combined to produce fruit with intense flavors and dark color at low alcohol levels. Our tiny block of Pinot Noir was harvested on September 28th.

The grapes were fermented in a one-ton microfermenter using native yeasts. After pressing, the wine was moved into three one-year-old Marcel Cadet 60-gallon barrels, for a hint of oak. The wines stayed on their lees, stirred occasionally, for a year and a half before they were blended and bottled in May 2012.

Tasting Notes

The 2010 Pinot Noir shows ripe, round, spicy Pinot fruit on the nose, showing potpourri, roses, juniper and cherry. The mouth is rich but somehow gentle, strawberry candy and root beer, but not sweet. Good tannins provide a welcome touch of firmness and a nice clean finish. Drink now or over the next decade.

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